Since the commencement of the continuous registration cycle on March 07, 2022, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has registered almost 14,000 persons, according to the Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud.
During a brief interview with Stabroek News yesterday, the CEO’s Secretariat said that 13, 963 persons have been registered thus far while 765 persons conducted other transactions including changing of particulars and transfers. Providing a breakdown, the Secretariat related that the new applications are done under two categories –registrants between 14 and 17 years and those 18 and older that were never registered.
Some 6918 new voters have so far applied for their ID cards while 7,045 applications were received in the 18 and over category. Additionally, over 4000 persons would have also applied for replacement ID cards and changes in their particulars.
GECOM is urging all eligible persons to follow the COVID guidelines when visiting registration offices. The process is expected to conclude on May 29, 2022.
The exercise is of crucial importance to those persons who would have been first-time applicants, in the 14 to 17 years age range that was captured during the 2019 house-to-house registration since the registration has been cancelled therefore eligible persons would have to reapply.
During this registration exercise, any person who will be 14 years and older by the 31st October 2022, and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, naturalization, or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more, can apply for registration, providing they were never registered before.
Not visiting homes
Meanwhile, in a statement yesterday, GECOM reminded that it is not visiting homes to conduct registration. The Commission said that it is in receipt of a report that persons have been visiting homes seeking information on the pretext of being GECOM employees.
In that regard, GECOM reminded that it is not currently engaged in any such exercise, nor has the Commission authorized anyone – employee or otherwise – to collect information from any person for any reason whatsoever through house-to-house visits.
“GECOM takes this opportunity to state categorically that, as an integral component of the ongoing registration exercise, Registration Staff and Scrutineers are required to visit the given residential addresses of applicants for registration to verify that the concerned persons actually live at the addresses they would have provided. Such visits are made only after an agreement between the applicant and the concerned GECOM staff would have agreed on a date and time,” the statement read.
The Commission also informed that staff and scrutineers are required to display their respective identification and accreditation badges while conducting verification visits.
GECOM urged persons to be extremely cautious and not to provide any information to those persons purporting to be its representatives. Persons are asked to contact GECOM on telephone numbers 223-9653, 225-5808, or 225-5868 to report or clarify any concerns.
